Ishida Ryuichi
|occupation = |previous occupation = Professor, |status = Active |relatives = Ishida Family |magic = Arc of Time Archive Alchemy Artisan Magic Circle Magic Geomancy Heavenly Body Magic Nullification Magic Requip Ward Magic |weapons = Fragarach (weapon), Caladbolg (colossus) }} Ryūichi Ishida (石田龍一, Ishida Ryūichi, lit. "Stone Field Where a River Flows, Supreme Dragon), is the heir to the Ishida line, a noble lineage of magicians who have dedicated their lives in the pursuit of magical knowledge and theory. He was raised as a tool to further his family's legacy, subjected to horrific experimentation that bestowed upon him a most powerful magic. He emerged to a new world one only he could see in all its splendor for it was the world seen through the lens of magic itself. Eventually he was given to the Magic Council in exchange for greater funding and research opportunity. In turn the Council fashioned the boy into a fearsome Mage, who on their order hunted down and annihilated unsavory elements. He was ruthless, he was powerful and in to time at all he been given the designation as the The Magus Killer (魔術師殺し, Majutsushigoroshi), and he was but a child of no more than twelve years old. Ryuichi eventually retired from active service and became a magical researcher, an Archivist. He used his skills to shake the world of Earth Land by dismantling and revealing entirely new rules and laws of magic none had even dreamed of. His scientific achievements alone helped to usher in a new age. Eventually he would leave on an expedition with one Merrdoin Wilt, where they would search for lost and ancient magic. This sojourn would lead to the founding of the magical city of Avalon, and the Arcane Research Consortium. Now Ryuichi spends his days surrounded by peers who share his ambition to discover new forms of magic and bring about the next great age. Appearance Personality History Early Childhood Ryuichi is the heir and successor to a lineage of mages, people who have dedicated whole lifetimes to the pursuit and study of magic. With each successive generation, their understanding has broadened, their power grown however minuscule. From the moment an heir is born they are provided rigorous training in all aspects of being a mage. They are as much a tool as they are the greatest treasure a family of mages can ever have. Ryuichi's family, the Ishida's were one such prominent family who strove to reach the One Magic. Yet it is with modern technology were they able to achieve the greatest breakthrough in hundreds of years. A ritual was performed, one that would impart a child with a unique gift. Through unholy ritual they imbued within the child, a form of magic that would revolutionize the world.! The day he was born, Ryuichi saw not the light of the faces of his parents, but the world of magic itself in all of its glory. Within his mind and soul was the amalgam of generations of effort, countless trial and failures until this one success. His childhood was one wrought with rigorous training, expectation and peril. In the eyes of his family he was less than human. He was an experiment, and like any experiment in order to fully understand it, Ryuichi was tested to his limits and beyond. They spent fortunes acquiring the resources to properly harness his power and train him, calling in favors from both the Magic Council and various Guilds. Magic in its entirety was revealed to him by countless tutors and mentors, each imparting some measure of wisdom or life lesson. Some were like his family, seeing only an instrument to be tried. Others felt genuinely for the boy, one so young yet to be subjected to such vile tests. Others cared neither way, seeing it for what it was, a job and simple as that. Ryuichi was not a prodigy, but he was not a failure either. If anything he performed exactly as they needed, nothing more, nothing less. As he grew, Ryuichi's attitude gradually became rebellious against his family. Often giving scathing retorts, or wisely using the abilities they had taught him to exact petty but nonetheless amusing bits of vengeance. Obviously given the amount of resources his family invested in him, the Magic Council was interested as well. As part of the agreement to train him, and provide even greater access to research and funding for his family, Ryuichi was groomed from a young age to join the military of the Magic Council. Despite having no say in the matter, Ryuichi found the situation to be a liberation. Out of all the magical phenomena he has borne witness to, he has not once known freedom. Still it was a gilded cage, no matter how many missions he would be allowed to go on or what parts of the world he would be able to see. It was in comparison a heavenly paradise when compared to the conditions of his previous care, a veriable prison, where he was watched with dispassionate eyes ever hour of every day. By the age of ten, Ryuichi's magical prowess had reached such substantial levels to be considered a very promising candidate for their military program. Within half a year's time he was wearing the uniform of a proud Rune Knight. Era of the Magus Killer Ryuichi quickly took to his new role, enjoying the relative freedom it entailed. However he would gain renown for his very unique aptitude in nullification magic. His research and sensory capabilities provided him with insights into magic not seen in decades, and he was quick to exploit this fact. Often he was lent out to various Rune Knight teams for the capture and detainment of Dark Mages and it is here that he began amassing his frightening reputation. While nullification was not a rare magic in Earth Land, the sheer level of proficiency he wielded it with had far surpassed any mage before him. Even the most complex and destructive forms of magic fell before him and this made him invaluable as a Rune Knight. Criminals and other Dark Mages who relied on magic quickly found their most powerful arts grounded to dust before him. Eventually he began working undercover in various black ops committed by the Magic Council in their ever increasing bid to handle the rising number of Dark Mages. Powers & Abilities :"You are '''nothing' Rune Knight! My wrath courses through the cavernous deeps! My rage cracks the crust of the earth! The world quakes at the fall of my steps! Its wretched denizens cower in the wake of my tread! I am a Slayer of Dragons! And you are just a dog of the Council, a pathetic mongrel who dances at the command of his betters! You are nothing but dust beneath my feet!" The Dragon Slayer roared his voice deep and terrifying like the grinding of earth, and the quake of thunder. Ryuichi peered at him dispassionately, unperturbed by the menace before him.'' :"And I have grown bored of your monologuing," he replied with a smirk while circling the Slayer, "So allow me to retort. You stand there grandstanding, yet for all your bravado, these eyes of mine reveal what you so desperately wish to hide." With a wave of his hand the confidence of the Slayer was wiped clean from his face as he felt the magic holding the earthen armor dissolve. Another step, and he felt his body weaken as the magic empowering him fizzle and dissipate into nothing. Howling in anger the Slayer gulped in buckets of air, his ancient magic forming the spell within his lungs and with the fury of the earth, '''roared'.'' :In the end it as useful as a petulant child screaming at a mildly amused parent. Ryuichi gestured contemptuously at the oncoming earthen tsunami, and in the next instant the attack was erased out of existence. "You tremble not from excitement but fear. Your shouting conceals the fractured remains of your pride. Still, you struggle against the inevitable tide of your oblivion the only way you know how. Admirable, but mistaken." He stops just mere feet away from the slayer, whose is face slack and his body slumped over in resignation. "So tell me Dragon Slayer, who is the one that is nothing?" --- Ryuichi apprehending a High Intellect ''': Ryuichi is considered one of the top-tier scientists, researchers and magical theorists that has ever graced the Magic Council. He is exceedingly knowledgeable in all things magical, is a proponent of several revolutionary theories, and has contributed significantly to the modern advancement of magic. With his unique sensory magic, Ryuichi is a living repository for arcane's unknown, for magic that has even yet to be touched by mortal hands. He has seen the world as magic intended it to be, and within his mind there are secrets of magic so world-changing that should they be revealed mankind would be destroyed in their attempt to harness such power. Beyond his magical knowledge, Ryuichi is an exceptionally keen and perceptive individual. He is patient, observant and highly analytical, preferring to wait and see how things plan out before acting accordingly. Having grown up as he did, it became necessary to discern the motives of those around him, including the plethora of ulterior motives guiding their actions. He is empathetic, which provides him contextual means of understanding their ambitions but lacks the sympathy necessary for the kind of compassion this would ordinarily entail. When he joined the Rune Knights, his knowledge expanded greatly with regards to history, military operations, and politics. He immersed himself in his new role, befriending nobles and officers while scouring the ancient library's owned by the Magic Council the nobility alike. He has orchestrated and participated in numerous campaigns, earning a reputation was an outstanding strategist and tactician, while demonstrating a fearsome combat prowess. Although much of his history with the Knights remain classified, there is a reason he is known as the "Null Mage". He has on behalf of the powers-that-be performed wet-work; hunting down Dark Mages and destroying Dark Guilds before they could gain a foothold after the fall of the Balam Alliance. *Expert Scientist : *Expert Inventor : '''Physical Abilities Master Hand-to-hand Combatant: Immense Strength: Immense Speed & Agility: Immense Durability: 'Magical Abilities' Archive Magic Archive Magic: Ethereal Body of Ideas (古文書の魔法: 幽体思想, Komonjo: Yuutai Shisou): For his mind to handle the sheer overload of information derived from his sensory magic, Ryuichi instinctively began converting the magical concepts he could interpert with his senses info a form of data stored within his mind. In order to retrieve said information Ryuichi "accesses" the data which is displayed before him either as a flat-screen or an open book. Unlike normal archive magic, this representation occurs as a phantasm within his own mind, and not as a manifestation of the eternano used to normally access the information. The nature of this magic is such that by witnessing a magical spell, its casting would be etched into memory, and by accessing this memory, Ryuichi is able to reproduce the magic as it was seen. But even at such a young age his Archive Magic was still in its infancy, despite the wealth of power and access his family possessed, Ryuichi had only just begun his journey in understanding magic. The joint effort by his family and the research & development department of the Magic Council saw to his induction into their services by the time he was ten, allowing him to vastly expand his library of knowledge. With access to the greatest and largest central database of magic, Ryuichi was finallly able to harness the true power of his sensory magic. Although his own ability to convert phenomena into a magical signature was unique, Archive Magic by itself was an already known magic utilized by the Magic Council. However, Ryuichi's ability to sense magic using his physical senses proved to be the catalyst that would allow him to venture further than any mage before him and expand on the concept of the innerworkings of this recently discovered magic. It is widely known that a named spell can be cast by any who possess only its incantation and the magical power necessary to power it. This aspect of magic is considered so normal, so ingrained in the mindset of mage's, that few dared to ask the question of why? Even if they could, mages are only able to infer based on what they can interpert which has left this mystery unanswered. Until Ryuichi that is. Though his research Ryuichi discovered that magic, or rather the framework by which mages define the nature of any given spell exists within a body of information. A veritable sea of thought, an ethereal body of ideas, and that was the essence of magic in Earthland. Magic as it is known is the ubiquitous force that exists within the universe. It is an indefinate power, one whose origins remain shrouded in mystery whose inner works elude even the most esteemed scholar. What is known is that magic exists as apart of the universe, within every force, action, reaction, concept, ideal, creature or entity. After centuries of research scholars are able to agree that there is one fundamental aspect of magic that appears to be the foundation of all modern magic, and that is the written and spoken word. Language is the most powerful form in which Magic can be realized in the world, for langauge provides the very basis of meaning and comprehension for sentient creatures. Without language, the sounds produced by a creature are meaningless, but it is only when we attribute meanining to those words do they have power. If one were to say "water", it is not immediately understood by the sound itself. We must first attach a meaning, a sense of understanding to it. This in turn resonates with the world, "water" becomes something distinct, its very meaning associated with what humans percieve as "water"; this forms the very basis of the bond between things. Humans communicate through language, think in language, it serves as the very basis for their cognitive functions, their very spirituality itself. Therefore in the concepts of Magic, it can be best understood and quantified not through a series of numbers, but through language, words, verses, hymns and so on. By understanding this concept, one begins to realize how magic is able to affect the world. Ryuichi's ability to interpert the interaction of magic as it resonates with the spiritual flow of the world has provided an unprecedented breakthrough in the understanding of magic. An Edea of magic, is as the name implies, the complete thought, or concept itself of a given spell. What Ryuichi discovered was where this Edea presides within the world, the Ethereal Body of Idea's (). It is a realm of information, imprints and echoes of thought projected by humans and other beings for eons. When a mage draws upon magic and performs a spell, they are creating a resonance between their soul and this phantom body, and the resulting union is the phenomena we know as magic. What this means for Ryuichi is that if a magic has been observed by members of the Magic Council or other guilds, he knows of it. He understands it. While he may lack the ability to utilize other magic, his understanding of it, is why his nullification magic remains the strongest in all of Earthland. Sensory Magic Transcendant Consciousness Awareness: Eternano Sensory Revelation (超能意識: 天空子発現会得, Chounouishiki: Ēterunano Hatsugen Etoku): This is a very rare form of sensory magic, the culmination of generations of magical study and research by the Ishida family line, the crystallization of their life's work. It is a sensory magic that allows its wielder to interact with eternano in its purest form using the five senses. The multitude of concepts, and magical phenomena that existed beyond the senses of human perception has become a reality for the Ishida heir. At its most basic level, Ryuichi is capable of feeling the ebb and flow of eternano as it exists within the atmosphere and all things in creation using his senses as a medium to detect, interpret, and comprehend magic. Of course no one magic is the same and each has characteristics that define it and more strongly relate to any one or more particular senses. There are forms of magic which resonate to Ryuichi as songs, melodies of an ephemeral nature that only he can hear. He describes them as hauntingly beautiful in their own way, like a grand orchestra playing in the background. Using his sense of olfactory senses, magic has distinct scents to it, citing that magic such as fire has a smell not unlike peppers or other spicy foods, which ties into his sense of taste. However his most well preferred use is through the ability to feel magic, both as a sort of extrasensory form and that of touch. He has found difficulty in describing the exact nature of what he feels, but has often described magic as a semi-tangible force that one could simply "grab" and mold with their very hands were they so inclined. In other cases it is like discerning the winding path of a river, circling endlessly around unknown paths, occasionally dipping off into vast "oceans" of eternano. As a result of his ability to sense magic through his senses Ryuichi has been able to engineer major breakthrough's in the study of magic, in addition to inventing or reinventing several known ones that he uses for himself. *'Third Sight: Vision of Spirit in Truth' (三情景: 視覚の中神髄, Mitsujoukei: Shikaku no Naka Shinzui): The strongest and consequently most powerful sense is ocular; with his eyes Ryuichi is able to percieve magic as a visual manifestation, colors and impressions that have never existed within human imagination. Before Ryuichi's eye magic is unraveled, its form and structure visualized, its meaning understood. Illusions are nothing before his eye, spells and all of their mystery are unveiled, each individual component of its composition broken down to their foundation all within his eye. It is powerful, immensely so and the human mind strains to handle the sheer wealth of information being imprinted within its wielders mind. Before he was old enough to understand Ryuichi had nearly been driven into insanity, the volume of magic as it truly appears in our world permanently burned into his mind having nearly destroyed him. To save his life and his mind he was gifted with a unique lens that would limit this power's ability. Nullification Magic Nullification Magic: Dissolution of Thoughts in Emptiness (無効の魔法: 空想解体, Mukō no Mahō: Kuusou Kaitei): Magic as used by most modern mages are manifestations of Edea's, complex but easily recognizable patterns of magic, which are stored within the Ethereal Body of Edea's. For Ryuichi, who is able to connect to this sea of thought and visualize these spells as they form he is able to perform a very unique form of magic. Modern magical theory holds that an Edea is as the name implies a conceptualized idea of eternano. Therefore all spells are "Edea's", but not all "Edea's" are spells. Nullification or Dispelling Magic generally functions by flooding a spell with a concentrated wave of eternano particles to rewrite or change the spell. An Edea is both a complex algorithm and also a chain of thoughts and ideas, flaws and contradictions exist, even if they are internally consistent. Nullification magic exploits these flaws by destabilizing the metastability of the spell's structure through the wave emission, which invariably cause the spell in question to systemmatically deconstruct and eventually unravel completely and dissipating into eternano. Speed of execution and the difficulty depend entirely on how familiar one is with the magic being used. Spells that are unknown to the user are increasingly difficult and magic that is foreign to the wielders own conceptual mind are impossible to dispel. Lost Magic for example is notoriously difficult to dispel for this very reason. However this is a brute force method and requires exhaustive levels of magical power and precise control to use for any extended period of time. This is why Ryuichi's methodology is so extraordinary. His use of archive magic allows him to access virtually all known modern spells, and as a result is familiar with many forms of magic. However, because he is able to visualize spells, he gains familiarity almost immediately. Furthermore as he can see the actual structure and formation of the spell, his precision in dispelling the magic is an order of magnitude greater than any mage before him. He can without wasting needless magical power disrupt spells using only minimal effort. The unique combination and synergy of his abilities is what makes him so powerful as a nullification mage. *'Spacial Void Expansion' (空き拡張, Akikakuchou): Emptiness is a concept that exists even within magic, and one of the most interesting ones. Its very existence is a contradiction, but a necessary one. That which exists must have a state of (non)existence as well, this duality is an inherent aspect of all thought. Ryuichi developed this spell once he began to understand that the spaces between thought were in fact manifestations of the concept "nothingness". He often wondered how Edea's could exist distinctly without spilling into one another, and what composed this body of concepts before the advent of thought. Once he understood what they were, manipulating them was the next hurdle. One does not create nothingness, that is a violation of its very nature. Emptiness is both the end and the beginning, all that exists in between is simply temporary. Despite all of this the spell is remarkably simple in execution. It is a release of magic, more akin to an amorphous cloud of the concept "nothingness" and when it detonates within an area it causes the expansion of nothingness. This is an extremely powerful ability which can instantly nullify any magic it is used against. Everything within the area adopts the concept of "nothingness" thus it is instantly destroyed. Concepts in this sense are like living beings, they have an instinct to propagate or remain and when partially subjected to the effect of this spell, will violently remove whatever parts are left of itself from the area, which can cause immense damage to buildings and the terrain. The range and size of the blast differs depending on the caster, but Ryuichi is able to produce a blast radius capable of leveling whole structures and at one point utterly annihilated an entire guild building as a Rune Knight, cementing its prowess. Yet for all of its power it has severe requirements and drawbacks. To influence nothingness one must first embody it. Magic is a manifestation of our will, and a will with competing desires, and ambitions is unable to use this spell to any effect. Using this spell requires that one enter a mental state of emotional detachment or complete calm in order to use effectively. The more mentally unstable or distressed he is, the more difficult it becomes to control this spell, potentially causing what would have been a controlled expansion, to the formation of a massive hole eating away at reality, turning anything and everything into nothingness. *'Spacial Void Compression' (空き圧縮, Akiasshuku): Trivia *The quote used by the Dragon Slayer in Ryuichi's history was taken from the fanfiction A Demon Among Devils by The Crimson Lord. All credit goes to the original author for that amazing piece of literature. Category:God Slayer Category:God Slayer Magic User Category:Caster-Mage Category:Mage Category:Independent Mage Category:Male